Its a chater flight

Emirates Airlines plans to use the new Mahinda Rajapaksa International (MRI) Airport Hambantota as a supply airport for their modern A380 flights operating on long haul destinations. refilling and accumulating other essentials for their A380 flights.

flydubai and Air Arabia will operate flights to Mattala with a stop over in Colombo. “In addition Sichuan Airlines of China, Qatar Airways, Ethiad and Emirates too would operate flights to Mattala,”

Korean Air to touch down in Mattala in the future. He also disclosed that most of the flights operated by SriLankan Airlines to Riyadh, Shanghai, Beijing and Male would make a stop over in Mattala.

he flying time from Colombo to Mattala would be 35 minutes. In addition Mihin Lanka flights to Buddha Gaya would also make a stop over in Mattala.

An open sky policy will be adopted by the government allowing international carriers to operate freely over Mattala. In addition a 50 % discount on ground handling charges for five years too would be offered.

He said in addition Heli Tours would also operate two flights per day at a very low rate between Colombo and Mattala.

The passengers would now have the option of taking flights to Colombo or embarking or disembarking in either Mattala or Colombo.

CMB-HTT-Male??

THat has to be so retarded.

I visited Mattala Airport 2 times during my stay in Srilanka.

still its a huge construction site.there are many more things to be done and finished before the opening.I really dont why they rushed to open it on next month.

Hi CalgaryLankan; Yes because of Quebec politics Montreal lost is hub and commercial status to Toronto and Sri Lankan politics is making the whole country bankrupt. Politician should stay out of aviation business; lets commerce decide if it requires the airport or not.

Amen to that.

Sri Lanka's new international airport gearing up for its opening on March 18



Sri Lanka to open airport in wildlife paradise

MATTALA, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka is set to open later this month a Chinese-built international airport surrounded by wildlife sanctuaries with the aim of boosting tourism, an official said.

Authorities want to leverage the exotic flora and fauna in the $209-million airport's neighbourhood to attract holidaymakers.

Travellers will be offered the "experience of being able to get up close and feed wild baby elephants," the state-run airport chairman Prasanna Wickremasuriya said.

The nearby Udawalawe wildlife sanctuary where authorities maintain a transit home for orphaned baby elephants is already a popular attraction for tourists who pay a fee to feed bottle milk to baby jumbos.

The airport's opening is planned for March 18.

Wickremasuriya told reporters another $100 million would be spent to increase the aircraft parking bay to 14 from the current 10.

China's Export Import bank funded the project and provided expertise as in the case of a $1.5-billion sea port opened for commercial shipping last year.

Both the port and the airport are in Hambantota district, the constituency of President Mahinda Rajapakse, who has pledged to turn the region into a new commercial capital of the nation of 20 million people.

New Delhi government officials have expressed fears that Hambantota is part of a Chinese policy to throw a "string of pearls" or a circle of influence around South Asia's nuclear-armed regional power India.

However, Sri Lanka insists its interests are purely commercial and it will not allow any foreign power to get a foothold in its ports and airports. (AFP)

Access Engineering plays vital role at Mattala International Airport - http://www.dailynews.lk/2013/03/06/bus03.asp


Cargo Building

MRO (maintenance repair overhaul)

Are they going to open a MRO in Mattala?

SriLankan Airlines is currently in discussion with a German aviation engineering organisation, Lufthansa Technik to jointly establish maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services at Hambantota’s Mattala airport.

Lufthansa Technik AG is one of the world’s leading providers of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, the company’s website stated. This organisation is the Lufthansa German Airlines’ maintenance arm and is subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group.

The national carrier is in discussion to ensure they are equipped with the technological know-how as the organisation is engaged in offering airlines and other operators of commercial airlines from minor maintenance to complete overhauls from repair of defective components to comprehensive spare-parts logistics.

The joint venture with Lufthansa Technik will ensure the latter invests on MRO that would allow the state airline to conduct third party maintenance related work, Chief Marketing Officer G.T. Jayaseelan told the Business Times.

He pointed out that major overhauls require increased expert knowledge that would in effect be provided by Lufthansa Technik.
The company currently serves customers all over the world: airlines large and small, charter carriers, operators of VIP aircraft, airlines whose aircraft have to fly under extreme climatic conditions, or whose aircraft are subject to the strain of short-haul traffic with frequent takeoffs and landings, the organisation stated in its website.

SriLankan Airlines currently has an MRO facility at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), which is solely operated by the national carrier. It is engaged in working on smaller aircraft and a limited number of maintenance work. However, at the Mattala airport the carrier is looking at increasing its services in this sector and servicing more aircraft in the future.

Meanwhile, aviation officials observed that the national carrier and budget airline Mihin Lanka would operate once the airport opens in South on March 18 and by then the ground handling staff would be ready.

But it was noted that with the number of ceremonies and functions happening at the airport on the opening day it was unlikely there would be a flight taking off on that day. The official noted that the carrier would take off from the new airport only the day after.

Already CPC is making losses and now giving fuel at lower cost. This Airport ground handling charges are heavily subsidized by AASL. how come GOSL does not now the definition of cross subsidizing




Discounts galore at Mattala

View(s): 1048

By Damith �Wickremasekara

More concessions have been offered to airlines and passengers who opt to travel from the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport due be declared open on March 18, Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratna said.

He said pilgrims to Dambadiva and Mecca and migrant workers to West Asian countries would be offered discount packages to popularise the airport. � The minister said arrangements were also underway to provide aviation fuel at a lower cost to attract more flights to Mattala.

He said the Government planned to send 60 per cent of the export cargo from Mattala. “Most of the export items come from the villages. It will be easier for exports from some of the Provinces such as the Southern, Eastern, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces to be sent from Mattala,” he added.�Mr. Jayaratne said the concessions offered to international airlines to use Mattala would also help them to reduce ticket fares.

He said Air Arabia and Korean Airways had agreed to fly thrice a week and Sichuan Airlines China and Emirates twice a week to Mattala. Among other airlines which have agreed to fly to Mattala are British Airways and Etihad.�He said the Government had signed agreements to offer Mattala as a transit point for Malaysians, Maldivians and Indonesians travelling to Mecca. Among other facilities would be the operation of domestic flight services from Mattala.

New international airport will create multiple opportunities



The Mattala International Airport is a commercially and economically viable project and the $ 210 million it cost, can be recovered in 10 years, said Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics of the University of Colombo, Dr. Ranjith Bandara responding to negative arguments about the second international airport in Sri Lanka.

Some critics argued that it was not a priority at present. Dr. Bandara said that development priorities of a country depend on the development strategies of the government. Today development is a challenge and it is clear that growth cannot be achieved by only pushing agriculture and industrial sectors. Therefore, the service sector should contribute the most and accordingly, the second international airport was a development priority. It should have been constructed long ago.

This is an urgent need with the growing tourism industry and we have to develop infrastructure to facilitate growth. On the other hand, this airport and the Hambantota port and other infrastructure facilities that have already been developed in the area will open huge opportunities for industries.

“We can expect new investments in this region in the future. The airport is not only for the landing of passenger aircraft. It will create multiple opportunities. Poverty cannot be reduced by providing subsidies forever and the government should create opportunities to reduce poverty.

Mega projects of this nature will create these opportunities,” he said.The airport was constructed with a $ 210 million commercial loan from China.

Dr. Bandara said that Sri Lanka should not forgo any opportunity it gets to develop the country. “We have limited resources and in project financing we have to go for foreign sources. Today as a middle-income country we have limited access to concessionary loans.”

Interest rates of commercial loans cannot be classified as high or low without looking at the viability of the project. This project is commercially and economically viable. Responding to criticism of slow progress in commercial activities at the Hambantota port, he said that it will take time, not days or weeks but several years to reach full capacity. It is the nature of such a large project. There is a satisfactory progress and now huge opportunities are opening there, he said.

The president of National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, Ashoka Hettigoda said that opening the second international airport clearly indicates that the country is reaching developed-nation status. This also indicates the government's commitment to reduce regional disparity and develop all parts of the country.'-GW

Will they close CMB for phase II construction ?

No.

I asked this question from a SLAA fellow.

further more CMB can handle 30 Flights at a time and HIA is capable only for 6.

MRIA : Getting ready to greet the skies !

Sri Lanka’s second wondrous sky gate - Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) scheduled to be opened on 18th of March 2013 and as the national carrier of Sri Lanka , SriLankan Airlines will be playing a major role in MRIA .













SriLankan Airlines

HIA - Hambanthota International Airport